1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the covering or packaging of one or more articles, and especially to multi-pack carriers for an array of cylindrical containers, such as the common six-pack beverage can container.
2. Prior Art
It is well known to connect an array of articles by means of a plastic carrier in order to package them as a single unit. There are many packages of this general type, representative carriers and packaging machines being disclosed by Poupitch in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,874,835, 2,929,181 and 2,936,070, by Hall et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 3,032,944, by Fisher in U.S. Pat. No. 3,044,230, by Dreyfus in U.S. Pat. No. 3,744,626, and by Curry et al. in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,134,485 and 3,206,019. In addition, carriers which incorporate a cover of some type over the containers are disclosed by Harrison in U.S. Pat. No. 3,046,711, by Rapata in U.S. Pat. No. 3,200,944, by Poupitch in U.S. Pat. No. 3,355,013, by Hatfield in U.S. Pat. No. 3,871,699, and by Curry et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 4,116,331. Most of these carriers include either a first carrier layer and a second cover layer, or require the presence of a bead on the rims of the containers, or both.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a simple one-piece closely fitting cover for an article. It is another object of the present invention to provide a carrier which does not require a bead or ridge of any type on the rim of the article in order to securely hold the container, permitting the carrier to be used with a wide variety of container types and styles. It is a further object of the present invention to provide a carrier which may be conveniently applied to both the top and bottom of an array of articles so as to form a rigid case. It is a further object of the present invention to provide a carrier which includes a cover to protect and keep clean the tops of the carried articles. It is another object of the present invention to provide a machine and method for making such a carrier and for controlling the thickness of different parts of the carrier. It is a further object of the present invention to provide a simple two-piece carrier having a cover layer and a carrier layer.